Many times, bottles, as part of their packaging in boxes, often pass through a dust-filled environment. This will often take place where clean bottles, for example, receive a filling of powdered contents. The filling process itself causes some powder to adhere to the bottles' exterior.
The cleaning of the bottles' exteriors then constitutes a problem that must find resolution prior to placing them with their contents on sale. Such containers, having dust on their outsides, prove undesirable from a retail merchandising perspective.
William J. McBrady, and Julian P. Avelis, in their U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,973, issued Oct. 21, 1987, provided significantly improved equipment and a method for cleaning the exterior of bottles and containers. In that patent, the bottles receive a spray of ionized air while in contact with an abrading surface, most typically brushes. The ionizing air serves to neutralize the electric charge on the dust or powdered material clinging to the bottles' exteriors. A vacuum applied in the same vicinity removes the air and the particulate material dislodged by the ionized air itself or the brushes contacting the bottles.
The system and method developed by McBrady et al. has provided a significant advancement in the art of removing powdered matter from bottles' exteriors. However, the effort continues to provide even superior equipment and methods for that purpose.